We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us at Almond Orthodontics are looking forward to seeing you again. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety. We have been working hard to prepare for our re-opening and feel well prepared to see each of you in a manner that is safe, professional, and efficient.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and team.

As you arrive to our building, please call the front office or respond to your reminder text from your car that you are here. Our front office team will let you know via phone call when your chair is ready.

We will ask some basic health related questions to update your medical history, including questions about COVID related symptoms and require a written waiver. (See questions below)

We will remind you of some new office requirements (COVID-19 related).

ALL patients and parents will be required to wear a mask to enter the office.

ALL patients and parents require a temperature screening.

Only the patient is allowed in the clinic. The exception is one parent accompanying a minor. No others will be allowed.

Absolutely no food or drink, in the office.

If anyone appears sick, or symptoms are present, they will not be seen. They will need to make a new appointment.

We will not be able to accommodate walk-in patients. We have occasionally tried to accommodate walk-in appointments in the past, however, it is not feasible with our new protocols. In addition, attempting to fit in an unscheduled patient is disruptive to the schedule and unfair to the patients we are seeing at that time. If you come without an appointment, we will search the schedule and see when the next available time is.

After the phone call, you’ll be invited into the front door. As you enter, you will need to sign the health history you just updated by phone and then have your temperature taken with a infrared thermometer.

Here are the questions from the American Dental Association we will be asking:

Do you/they have a fever or have you/they felt hot or feverish recently (14-21 days)?

Are you/they having shortness of breath or other difficulties breathing?

Do you/they have a cough?

Any other flu-like symptoms, such as gastrointestinal upset, headache or fatigue?

Have you/they experienced recent loss of taste or smell?

Are you/they in contact with any confirmed COVID-19 positive patients? (Patients who are well but who have a sick family member at home with COVID-19 should consider postponing elective treatment.)

Have you/they traveled in the past 14 days to any regions affected by COVID-19?

If you are asymptomatic and healthy, you will be invited to have a seat in our reception room. A clinical assistant will then come and bring the you back to the clinic for your appointment.

We are not allowed to have a common brushing area. You will need thoroughly brush and floss your teeth before your appointment. After cleaning your teeth, rinse with hydrogen peroxide and water. 50/50 ratio. We simply will not be able to complete your appointment if your braces and teeth are not very clean.

You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.

Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

Our primary concern at your appointment is to address any emergencies, urgent, or time sensitive concerns. It is unlikely that we will be able to repair or replace broken appliances.

We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to seeing you again.